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During the early years of the Revolutionary War, Williamsburg blacksmith James Anderson expanded his small, commercial site into a public armoury. As public armourer, Anderson maintained and manufactured many of the weapons, tools, and other equipment used by the American military. The armoury had a diverse workforce of more than 40, working in several shops and fed from the site's kitchen. In 2012, Colonial Williamsburg opened the newly reconstructed armoury complex. Extensive archaeology, primary source research, digital modelling, collaboration among the trade shops, and a grant from Forrest E. Mars made the reconstruction possible. For more about the Armoury, see Michael Olmert's article "Of Arms, Armorers, & Armories." For more on the reconstruction process, see Edward A. Chappell's article "Complex Reconstruction: The James Anderson Armoury."

In 2012, Colonial Williamsburg opened a reconstructed armoury on the site of the eighteenth-century complex. The largest building is the armoury itself, with several chimneys and forges at which blacksmiths and gunsmiths work. There is also a tin shop, a workshop, and two storage buildings. A kitchen provided food for the people—more than 40 men—who worked there. This illustration of the armoury site was created by Colonial Williamsburg's Digital History Center.

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April 11, 2013

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James Anderson was a blacksmith in Williamsburg who ran an armoury there from 1778 to 1780, and employed a variety of skilled workmen—soldiers, skilled Frenchmen working under contract, enslaved men, prisoners of war, apprentices, and tradesmen. Blacksmithing focused on repairing weapons and making bayonets, ramrods, and musket balls. The tinsmiths created camp items such as cups, plates, and kettles, essentials for soldiers' daily lives. In this lesson, students play a board game and discover what work was done at the armoury, who did the work, and why the facility was so vital during the American Revolution.

Quotation of the Month

"What we make aids our preservation and presentation of centuries-old technology. The products themselves are, in a way, a by-product. That they are faithful reproductions or plausible reconstructions is important—they look, feel, sound, smell, taste like eighteenth-century things. It's more important that they are that way because we went about making them as they would have been made two-hundred-odd years ago."